Miss Marjoribanks: Chronicles of Carlingford: Amazon.ca: Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant: Books

Product Description

Returning home to tend her widowed father Dr Marjoribanks, Lucilla soon launches herself into Carlingford society, aiming to raise the tone with her select Thursday evening parties. Optimistic, resourceful and blithely unimpeded by self-doubt, Lucilla is a superior being in every way, not least in relation to men. 'A tour de force...full of wit, surprises and intrigue...We can imagine Jane Austen reading "Miss Marjoribanks" with enjoyment and approval in the Elysian Fields' - Q. D. Leavis. Leavis declared Oliphant's heroine Lucilla to be the missing link in Victorian literature between Jane Austen's "Emma" and George Eliot's "Dorothea Brook" and 'more entertaining, more impressive and more like able than either'. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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First Sentence
Miss Marjoribanks lost her mother when she was only fifteen, and when, to add to the misfortune, she was absent at school, and could not have it in her power to soothe her dear mamma's last moments, as she herself said. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
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3 star:		(1)
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4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the effort, Oct 22 2009

By	Lee (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Penguin Classics Miss Marjoribanks (Paperback)

Well I have certainly never met a character like Miss Lucilla Marjoribanks. At first I simply did not understand her motives, drive and determination to re-organize Carlingford society. It seemed such a waste of a strong character. This was a long read, not to be rushed and the further I was immersed into Lucilla's world, the more I came to admire her and the author for creating such an unusual woman. It was the last half of the book that really held my attention when Lucilla's life took an unexpected turn and she faced challenges previously unknown. Her confidence in her own abilities and the correctness of her thinking never wavered and was inspiring to read. It was not until the very end of the book that I began to understand what she was really all about and by then, I was completely captivated.

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5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute delight!, Jan 13 2008

By	Misfit (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Miss Marjoribanks (Paperback)

What a great find, and refreshing as it lacks much of the high melodrama so common in most 19th century literature. Miss Lucilla Marjoribanks comes home from school determined to be a comfort to dear papa and sets the good doctor and the entire town on their ears, with her brilliant manipulations.

The characters are wonderful, the story has lots of ups and downs that Lucilla is always capable of meeting with great ingenuiuty and fortitude. There are many wonderful moments and lots of laughter along with a few tears. Highly recommended, particularly for anyone who enjoys 19th century English literature.

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5.0 out of 5 stars An unacknowledged gem!, Jan 6 2003

By	Andrew MacEwen "His Imperial Majesty, Grand H... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Penguin Classics Miss Marjoribanks (Paperback)

This must be one of the funniest books I've ever read--I hadn't laughed out loud like this since Catch-22. The character of Miss Marjoribanks (that's pronounced "Marchbanks") is used by Oliphant both as a vehicle for social satire in the Victorian community and as an instrument to examine female modes of power in the Victorian home. The scene in which Miss Marjoribanks figuratively usurps her father's role as patriarch of the house by appropriating his place at the breakfast table is hilarious. Oliphant's book is wonderfully enjoyable and furtively serious--it may be light in tone, but it reveals a great deal about how a resourceful Victorian woman might seek modes and expressions of power within parameters that are very limiting.

The main character of Miss Marjoribanks is not intended to "grow" or "develop"--part of the pleasure of her characterization and her story is in witnessing how her single-minded mania as social director of her community compells her to overcome the obstacles thrown in her way by the novel's narrative. Why should we arbitrarily expose this book to aesthetic standards created by a handful of canonical novels? Miss Marjoribanks's characterization is as valid as any found in Austen or Trollope (though not necessarily as great as the best of them)--we must keep in mind that there was much more to Victorian fiction than what is revealed in the small quantity of canonized examples still read today. Oliphant was immensely popular in her day, she was Queen Victoria's favorite writer, and there were many contemporary critics who considered her to be one of the best novelists of that period.

In short, Oliphant's Miss Marjoribanks is a comic masterpiece, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to any reader of 19th-century British fiction.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Light and fun
I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. I came to love the character of Miss Lucilla Marjoribanks. Read more

Published on Jul 23 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars amusing but mild
"Miss Marjoribanks" is set up in a mock epic style following the social conquering of Carlingford by Lucilla Marjoribanks when returns to her hometown after years in... Read more

Published on Nov 21 2001 by Brenda Jo Mengeling

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny and fetching
If you were to cross Jane Austen's Emma Woodhouse with E. F. Benson's Lucia, the result (psychologically as well as chronologically) would be Margaret Oliphant's triumphant queen... Read more

Published on Nov 1 2000 by Jay Dickson